Something significant happened on Saturday, February 19, 2022, ahead of the commissioning, yesterday, of the International Convention Centre (ICC), with 13,000-seating capacity, which is the largest of such centres in Sub Sahara Africa. Governor Willie Obiano went on his weekly inspection of the ICC and was welcomed by three dozens of the Rangers International Football Club members who played in the seventies and eighties.
The list included Emmanuel Okala, Nigeria’s greatest goalkeeper ever, and Christian Chukwu, the most admired Green Eagles captain in his heydays who later coached the national team. The fact that Chairman Chukwu, as he is fondly called, could come all the way from Enugu, despite his severe health challenge, illustrates the importance of the encounter with Governor Obiano.
The new generation of Nigerians, including those from the Southeast, may not fully appreciate the hallowed place of Rangers International in Nigeria’s history. For decades, Rangers represented renaissance to the Eastern Nigerian people, that is, hope, resilience, determination, confidence, and triumph in spite of all odds.
Rangers won every major match in the country and the trophy of every major tournament in 1974. It represented Nigeria in international competitions. Half of the Green Eagles team always came from Rangers alone. Popular musicians like Chief Osita Osadebe and Ikenga Superstars of Africa waxed records in Rangers honour.
Rangers restored pride and confidence in every Easterner, particularly Ndigbo. Unfortunately, the players have declined greatly in recent decades, like Nigeria’s football. The boys who fought so spiritedly to restore dignity to their people are now old, with many dead. They are frail and need a lot of medical attention. They are, regrettably, very poor and mere feeding is a huge problem. Some government officials, organizations, rich individuals and even ordinary people who used to shower them with cherished gifts and money have long abandoned them.
The only top Southeast government official who has always stood with them since assumption of office in 2014 is Governor Obiano. Each member of the old Rangers receives a considerable monthly stipend from Chief Obiano, who also seasonally provides them with foodstuffs like bags of rice.
This is regardless of their state of origin. Obiano invites them to every major event in the state as a mark of appreciation of their profound contribution to the development of Eastern Nigeria in particular and the country in general. In fact, on Easter Sunday of 2017, Governor Obiano staged an unprecedented show at Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka which featured both Rangers of the old and leading musicians in the East in the 1970s whose songs went a long way to revive socioeconomic life in the region after the war.
It is against this background that the presence of ex-Rangers at the International Conference Centre in Awka can be fully appreciated. The former footballers thanked Akpokuedike for his stupendous support to them over the years. They even followed him to his country home at Aguleri where they presented the governor with an Ex-Rangers jersey, thanking him for history-changing projects and other achievements.
As Governor Obiano leaves office on March 17 after eight meritorious years, Dim Ojukwu, the founding leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), must be smiling from above, satisfied that the outgoing governor has upheld his philosophy of Biafra of the Mind through imaginative achievements which have made Anambra the most competitive state in Nigeria.
Ikemba Nnewi must be feeling more accomplished that the incoming Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, will lift the development banner higher than any governor has done in Nigeria’s history. For the Anambra people, it is still morning on creation day.
WRITTEN BY DR. KENNETH CHUKWUKA
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